Canada's Homeless Crisis Response

We are all aware of the homeless crisis in Canada and how homelessness has an impact on every community in Canada. It affects individuals, families, women fleeing violence, youth, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. In 2016, an estimated 129,000 people experienced homelessness at an emergency shelter. So what is the government doing to respond to this crisis? What is their strategic plan to aid those experiencing homelessness?

Reaching Home is a community-based program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness by providing direct support and funding to Designated Communities (urban centres), Indigenous communities, territorial communities and rural and remote communities across Canada. It launched in 2019, and the government committed $2.2 billion to tackle homelessness across the country. Since then, they have doubled their commitment to nearly $4 billion over 9 years. This includes over $1.1 billion in new investments through Budgets 2021 and 2022, to further support communities in addressing homelessness for individuals and families across Canada.

In addition, something largely overlooked by wide media coverage of the federal government’s Economic Action Plan 2013 was that it marked a significant change in the way we will tackle homelessness in this country. The plan includes an investment on ending homelessness by providing five years of renewed funding for the homelessness partnering strategy (HPS), and placing a strong emphasis on the “housing-first” approach. Approximately 60 communities across the country are supported by HPS funds, and 80 per cent of the funding goes to Canada’s 10 biggest cities. Without HPS funding, the number of people who are homeless would increase dramatically so this is actually making a positive difference.

But the federal government has done more than allocate scarce budget resources to a growing concern, they’ve also advocated a housing-first approach to homelessness. What does this mean exactly? It means that the policy lens dramatically shifts across the country from supports for “helping the homeless” to “ending homelessness.” Housing-first programs have been shown across the U.S. to effectively end homelessness by providing immediate access to housing and support services and then providing treatment and support services.

Overall, it is through these policies and initiatives the government is taking part in that is making a positive impact for the homeless crisis in Canada. Although it may not be evident as of now, these efforts are going to make long-term differences that will hopefully prevent homelessness within the country.

Works Cited

Canada, Infrastructure. “Government of Canada.” Infrastructure Canada, / Gouvernement Du Canada, 17 Apr. 2023,

https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/homelessness-sans-abri/index-eng.html.

Stergiopoulos, Vicky, and Sam Tsemberis. “How the Federal Government Plans to End Homelessness.” Thestar.com, Toronto Star, 30 Apr. 2013,

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/04/30/how_the_federal_governmentplans_to_end_homelessness.html.